


36 questions for falling in love

by MementoIssy



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Experiment, F/F, Fluff, Journalist Laura, Philosophy, Questions, kind of fluff, professor Carmilla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-09-01 05:32:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8610646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MementoIssy/pseuds/MementoIssy
Summary: 36 questions, two people answering them, end result, they MIGHT fall in love. LaFontaine and Perry conducted an experiment to see just how true this hypothesis is.OrCarmilla and Laura in a room, answering questions that might lead them to finding love





	1. Chapter 1

Carmilla and LaFontaine were in brunette’s office having a discussion about Carmilla’s participation in her friends experiment. Perry and LaFontaine are re-conducting an experiment to see how many people will fall in love based on 36 well constructed questions. Study about this was done so many times before, but they wanted to see it for themselves and capture what participant’s thoughts about it.

“You have to”, they said firmly.

Carmilla shook her head, “no I don’t”.

“Yes, you do”, LaFontaine was not giving up that easily. “You need a life”, they pointed out. 

“I have a life!”, brunette huffed.

“Social one!”

“I have that one as well.”

“Sleeping around doesn’t count!”, they were starting to lose patience and Carmilla noticed.

“Fine! Text me when and where it takes place. And just so you know I’m doing this just so I can prove your stupid experiment is worthless and wrong!” Carmilla pointed out and LaFontaine just beamed, happy that they managed to convince broody professor to be a part of a study.

_______________________________

The room was cozy, with two big scarlet armchairs in the middle of it, a wooden coffee table between them, with soft golden light coming from floor lamps. In the middle of the table were white cards, on the right side were pots of coffee and cocoa, while on the left side were cookies and muffins.  

Carmilla entered slowly, eyes roaming around the room, looking at the carefully designed space, everything there was strategically placed to make participants feel comfortable. She noticed, at the far end of the room an iPod hooked on speakers, so she slowly reached it and played the first thing in it. Vivaldi’s “Four season”, started playing and brunette immediately recognized it, she sat down, closed her eyes and enjoyed the melody.

Carmilla was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of door closing; she slowly opened her eyes to a sight of a beautiful, dirty blonde standing awkwardly and waving at her. Carmilla smiled and stood up, “Hey”.

“Hey”, blonde repeated, they stared at each other for a minute, just getting familiar with faces in front of them. Carmilla’s eyes roamed all over other girl’s face, all over her dark blue button up with a bowties on it, and they landed on deep brown eyes.

“I’m Laura. Laura Hollis”, blonde offered stretching her hand to shake Carmilla’s. She was surprised by how she said her name without stuttering since the girl in front of her was breathtaking, hot in the lack of more sophisticated words because brunette was wearing plain black shirt and leather pants, her hair was falling freely over her face and shoulders creating a mysterious vibe around her.

“Carmilla. Nice to meet you Laura”, Carmilla was surprised by the lack of a snarky tone in her voice, the one she usually has when she is meeting new people. Will once said it was a defense mechanism.

Carmilla poured Laura a cup of cocoa, since the blonde said she doesn’t drink coffee that often. They exchanged basic information like age ( _“you are 30? You look so much younger!”, “Says you cupcake, you don’t look 28”_ ), hometown, professions ( _“Journalist? I could tell you were some kind of know it all, with all the questions you are asking”, “Oh shut up! I defiantly see you as a philosophy professor”_ ). And when they made themselves comfortable enough in their chairs Carmilla offered, “So cupcake shall we start?”

Laura nodded, not being able to say the words since she was in the middle of a bite.

“I see you are busy over there, so I’ll read the first question”, Carmilla teased, receiving another nod and an appreciated look from dirty blonde.  “First one goes: Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?”.

Laura finished eating and offered, a long humming noise before answering, “my dad, or Perry and LaF or, or, or Doctor Who, Harry Potter, or maybe… this is hard”, she whined, looking at Carmilla. The brunette just shook her head, finding the dilemmas of the other girl cute. “Okay, okay, Doctor Who”, she finally blurted, “how about you?”

“My mom”, Carmilla answered honestly, “and before you say it’s a lame answer, I have to say that my mom died when I was very young”.

“Mine too”, Laura added in a dulcet tone. They just looked at each other again, Laura stares at brunette’s pale cheekbones, fighting the urge to ask her about her mom, about what happened, it would be too personal too soon, and even Laura knew that. And Carmilla just thought about Laura’s life, wondering if they might have some less gloomy things in common.     

“Okaaaay, next question: Would you like to be famous? In what way?”, Laura broke the silence.

“I don’t think I would enjoy being famous, all those people wanting to know about you, you lose your air of mystery when you are famous. And fame gives you responsibilities I’m not on board with…”

“Responsibilities?”, blonde interrupted.

“Yes, like being a role model, making a difference in a world…”, Carmilla stopped for a moment, looking at Laura like she is asking if the answer was good enough, “how about you?”

“I guess I would like to be known for my work, I don’t know how would I feel if I was a movie star or a pop star, but being known for a work you’ve done is kind of appealing.” Laura answered and picked up the next card, “Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?”.

“That’s a weird question, but I’m going to have to say I don’t rehearse cause nobody actually call’s me, I mean except for LaFontaine or Perry or people from work”, brunette confessed, making Laura’s body twitch. “ _She sounds lonely, she shouldn’t feel that way. Nobody should_ ”, dirty blonde thought.

“I sometimes take time to organize my thoughts, as you may have noticed I have a tendency to rumble”, Laura admitted almost shyly.

“That’s kind of cute cupcake”, the brunette said, making the other girl blush a little bit. “Okay, next one: What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?”

“It depends I guess, some days I would say that a perfect day is staying in, watching Netflix, having a hot cocoa, cookies, other times I would say the perfect day is going to a Comic con with a girl I love, we would geek out, hold hands and wander around enjoying the serenity of the day. But then again, there are days when perfect means getting a good story to write, collecting the facts long before anybody”, Laura admitted honestly.

She didn’t ask the brunette to answer the question, but she gave her a look that she is done talking.

“For me perfect is a rainy day inside, the one I can spend reading, having coffee while some music plays in a background…”

“How very broody of you”, Laura teased.

“Ohhh, shut it cupcake”, Carmilla mumbled, reaching again for the new card, “so when did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?”

Laura knitted her eyebrows, taking a deep breath, trying to remember when was the last time she really sang to somebody. “I’ve been told that I hum when I work and if that’s true, I’m going to have to say I did it this morning”, she offered a shy smile, “and to someone else, honestly I don’t know… it’s been a while I guess”.  

“What do you hum? When you are writing, I mean”, brunette interrupted.  

“It depends, but I hummed Ironic this morning.”

“I thought you are going to say something more of the lines of T Swift or Fifth Harmony”, now it was Carmilla’s turn to tease.  

“Hey! I love them!”, Laura acted offended.  

“Sure you do, creampuff.”  

“Well, when you stop making fun of me, I would love to hear your answer”, the journalist said.  

“I sang to JP”, and before Laura could ask who is that Carmilla explained, “he is a 3 year old son of my friends, so I was babysitting and we sang Itsy Bitsy spider, but of course cool punk version”, they both laughed at this, “and this morning while I was making breakfast I sang to myself”.

“What did you sing?”, Carmilla raised a brow at the other girl’s question, “Oh, c’mon you asked me”.

“It was a jazz song that I like”, snarky brunette offered.

“Jazz? So you are not in a committed relationship with all things punk?”, Laura concluded with a smirk. They smiled at each other and Carmilla only shook her head, giving the answer to the blonde.

“Next one is fun! If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?”, Laura somehow managed to be faster than the other girl and grabbed the card with the question.

“I would retain a body of a 30 year old … and before you say anything, it’s not because I’m vain, it’s just the mind is something that shouldn’t be unchangeable, it needs to grow, transform, bend and break… I would never condemn myself to an inalterable mind, and body, body is just a vessel.”

Laura blinked, caught up in Carmilla’s answer, “Wow… okay, I was going to say the same thing about keeping my 30 year old body, but your explanation wow, mine has been that I would like to stay 30 because I would be in a better physical shape to do my job”, they both chuckled.

“Okay, let’s see if you have some deep, philosophical answer to the next one”, Carmilla said, reaching for the next card, “Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?”

In a moment atmosphere in the room shifted, it became serious, and Laura lost herself in thoughts for a moment before she started talking.

“When my mom died, I thought about death a lot. About how she felt, was she in pain, does that other life exists”, she used air quotes when saying other life, “it took me a while to stop, after that I tried not to think about death, so I don’t have the answer to that question”, Laura explained.

“It’s okay Laura, we don’t need to have answers to all the questions”, brunette said, reaching across the table to give Laura’s hand a gentle squeeze, “I just hope mine won’t happen anytime soon”, this time she offered a smile.

 “I hope that too”, Laura added.  

“Next one is on a lighter note cupcake. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common. I want to hear what you think we have in common”, Carmilla read with a curious look on her face.

Laura wondered for a moment before answering, “We both experienced lost of a parent, we would both be 30 for 60 years if we could”, she grinned, “and we are both committed to this experiment”, she finished, her eyes looking Carmilla intensely, wondering if brunette liked the answer.

Carmilla nodded, looking satisfied enough with the response, “I think we both like girls”, she offered a huge smirk, “we are both attractive people and we are both carrier oriented”.  

“You think I’m attractive?”, Laura blushed.

“I have eyes, don’t I cupcake?” This made Laura blush even harder. “Okay, so the next one is…  for what in your life do you feel most grateful?”

Laura exhaled, she was happy that Carmilla changed subject not mentioning a red color on her cheeks. 

“For my dad, he has been a great support and even though he can be overprotective most of the time, he was always there for me when I needed him”, the blonde said.

“I understand. Mattie, my sister and I have the similar relationship. She is always there for me and she was the person that raised me, so I’m lucky to have her”, Carmilla was almost surprised by how fast she was opening up to the girl in front of her.

“That’s sweet, I’m an only child, I always wished I had a sibling”.

“They can be a pain in the ass cutie, you are not missing out a lot”.

Laura nodded, “if you say so…”, she smiled and took the next card, “the next one is - if you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?”

Carmilla had looked at Laura for a while, thinking should she brush off this question or should she actually give a meaningful and honest answer. She decided that she is too far gone to stop honestly talking with blonde across her, “I don’t think I would change things even… Well, my adoptive mother was… is not the warmest person, but I guess I learned to keep my feelings to myself because of her and that’s what kept me away from hurting… How about you?”

“I just always wished that my dad was less protective of me, I wished that he would let me make my own mistakes… sometimes I feel like I haven’t lived in a real world, like everything is new, dangerous.”

Carmilla nodded, offering a smile. “Read the next one cupcake, I’m too comfortable to move.”

“Oh, I’m going to love hearing your answer to this one. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.”

“It really says that, give me that card”, Carmilla snatched it from Laura’s hands, looking at the black ink, grumbling, “Okay, if we got to do it”, she huffed again, “you know my name is Carmilla, Carmilla Karnstein. I was 4 when my parents died, I don’t remember much about my life with them, just a feeling of warmth, belonging, and happiness. I was adopted by Lilita Morgan the same time when Mattie and Will were. I was not too happy in the beginning, it took some time getting used to mothers ways, but when I did she stopped being some stranger, she became a person that took me to my French classes, the first person that I wanted to show a new song I learned to play, she became my mother. For a while I lived in a fantasy, a world where mother could do no wrong, world where I thought she would never hurt me, but I was wrong. I fell in love with a girl, her name was Ell, and I was happy, it was a new kind of happiness but my mother didn’t like her. Soon Ell stopped returning my calls, she was avoiding me, and when I confronted her, she said she doesn’t want to see me again and that I should just leave her alone.”

Laura wanted to ask, did Carmilla leave that other girl alone, but she stayed quiet.

“It took some time to get over her, you know how irrational those young loves can be. But I moved on, finished college, cut strings with my mother and now I live and work here, at the university, teaching philosophy, trying daily to be a better person. Sorry if that wasn’t too detailed, I had like 4 minutes”.

Laura looked at brunette with a serious look on her face, “you could talk all day, I like listening to you”, she blushed at her own admission, “so my turn?”

Carmilla nodded, giving Laura silent approval to start.  

“My parents had a happy marriage, I remember wanting to have that one day, somebody to dance with me in the kitchen when we are making dinner, to hug me, twirl me around the room. I grew up with that kind of ideal of love carved in my mind. When my mom died, I was 7, my dad transferred his whole attention to me, afraid that I might disappear just like my mom did. I couldn’t have a normal phone like the rest of the kids because he was afraid I’ll send photos to sexual predators.  I was not allowed to go out, to party, that’s why I spent my days in school trying my hardest to make normal high school memories. When I went to college, my dad filled a bag with bear spray for me to bring with me, just to keep me safe. Until this day I still have it in the back of my closet. I was sheltered, protected and when I got to feel the freedom or the glimpse of it I did the only thing I wanted to do, I found somebody and I fell in love. It happened spontaneously, fast, it burned and it left me broken, since then I am carefully picking my life experiences and that brought me here.”

“Whoever broke your heart Laura is a jerk”, Carmilla said softly.

“It’s okay, we all get one broken heart before we find somebody that’s going to defend it with their life”, blonde smiled sadly.

“You might be right cutie. So the last one from this set is - If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?”

“Flying, no, no, time traveling, or mind reading…”, the brunette looked at her with an amused look again, blonde was rumbling again, “don’t look at me like that, it’s a hard question”, Laura whined.  

“Sure is creampuff”.

“Fine!”, she stuck her tongue out making a face at Carmilla’s direction, “what power would you like to have?”

“I would love to have an ability to be among the stars, to see the darkness that surrounds Earth, to feel the quiet and cold of the universe.”

Laura gave her a puzzled look, “You always have to have better answers than me, I choose time traveling”.

“ That one is also good cupcake”, brunette stated.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the work has been crazy but I managed to write something and to start on the chapter 3. Hope you guys like it

They took a break from answering questions and just walked around the room stretching their legs. Carmilla shuffled trough list on the iPod while Laura moved chairs and a coffee table around.

”What are you doing cupcake?” Carmilla asked without moving here eyes from the iPod.

“Making our conversation cozier”, Laura stated.

 “How is sitting on the floor cozier?”

“It’s not as stuck up as sitting in those chairs across each other. It feels like an interview”, honey blonde explained.

“It kind of does”, other girl agreed.

Laura tapped her hand on a cushion on the floor signaling Carmilla to sit down, and brunette sat down without a word.

“So who made you participate?”, brunette was curious.

“Nobody, actually, I was eager to participate”, Laura admitted, “it’s a journalist curiosity I guess. We always need to get to the bottom of things”.

“And what do you expect to find on the bottom of this silly experiment?”

“It’s not silly!” Laura exclaimed. “I’ve read about people who fell in love during this, you can’t call it silly science proved it”.

Carmilla just smiled, enchanted with the passion that Laura showed for such a mundane thing as a social experiment.

“I was so excited that Perry and LaF let me participate”, the blonde said.

“Wait… You know LaF? And Perry? Like know them under different circumstances than this experiment?”, Carmilla asked and the blonde nodded. 

 “I went to high school with Perry”, Laura explained.

“Don’t take this the wrong way cutie, but they never talk about you”, Carmilla said with a teasing smile.

“I moved back here just a couple of weeks ago, give it some time. I bet Perry has all kinds of stories about us in high school.”

“Moved back from?”, Carmilla was curious.  

“Styria. It’s in Austria”, blonde clarified.

Carmilla made a strange face, something between being impressed and being confused, but she didn’t speak, she just looked at the other girl letting her continue her story.

“I traveled, a lot”, she emphasized that, “I was doing some soul searching, feeling how being free feels. Somewhere between sightseeing and tour guide telling me about the myths and folk stories of Austria I met an American guy that was looking for a person to be a reporter from Austria for American magazine. So I was there for few years and now I’m here”.

“Why did you decide to come back?”

“It was just the right time. I feel like I’m ready to build a serious career, to have a steady job, maybe even a relationship, to form a permanent life”, Laura’s voice sounded confident and steady.

“That’s a good plan Laura”, Carmilla admitted, “But what I really want to know all about is that cookie obsession you have”.

“What obsession, it’s not an obsession”, blonde said strongly,

“Sure cupcake, keep telling yourself that”, Carmilla teased, “I’ll get my answer Laura Hollis, trust me”, her voice was flirty, it made other girl blush.

 


	3. Set II

Carmilla took the first card, slowly reading a question trying to get into a more serious mode, “If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?”

“Hmmm, I guess I would just want to know if I’m happy”, Laura looked at the other girl like she was searching for approval of her answer.

Carmilla nodded, “yeah, I guess I would want that too”, she softly admitted.

“After all, don’t we all just want to be happy?”, Laura pondered out loud and Carmilla just shrugged because this kind of topic could get really dark really fast and she just wanted to keep her conversation with pretty blonde light.

The brunette reached again and took another card, “Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?”

“Tattoo”, Laura blurted, “I always wanted to get a tattoo, but I’m terrified of needles, sharp objects in general. They make me twitchy”.

“What kind of tattoo?”, Carmilla stopped for a second, “please don’t tell me you would put a giant cupcake on your body, or a cookie of some kind”, she started laughing.

“Hey! Mean!”, blonde showed the other girl playfully, “actually, I wanted to do a Latin saying – _Memento Mori_ , it means…”, she was interrupted by Carmilla.

“Remember your mortality or remember that you have to die.”

“Of course that you know Latin, pretentious little philosopher”, Laura teased expecting a snarky replay from Carmilla, but the other girl just leaned and lifted her shirt showing the blonde neatly written words on her skin, making Laura flustered.

“ _Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur_ , it means it is a wise man who speaks little", Carmilla explained, “I have a few more of those but I’m afraid that your heart can’t take seeing them cupcake”.

Laura rolled her eyes, “so, you didn’t answer the question, don’t think that you could distract me with your shirt shenanigans Carm. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?”

“We are still at that”, brunette deadpanned, “I’ve wanted to publish a book for a while now. I just don’t think I’m ready for people to read what I wrote. But I want to, I really do, it will just take a little more time to let it go to the real world”.

“You wrote a book? What kind of book? Is it philosophy book? When did you write it? Is it finished?”

“Easy there cutie… Yes, I wrote a book, I wrote two books, one a collection of poems, that one is done and the other is a collection of short stories I’ve been writing since I was a teen. That one needs a little bit of tweaking.”

Satisfied with the answer Laura just nodded and offered a small smile. She was faster this time snatching a card right in front of the brunette’s hand, “What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?”

“Probably being alive cutie”, Carmilla joked.

“Be serious Carm”, the journalist said.

“I am being serious”, she tried keeping a serious face failed.

“I’m not getting an answer here am I?”, Carmilla just shook her head, “Fine, be a grumpy child. I however will tell you that one of my greatest accomplishments in life is being a person that my dad is proud of”. They were quiet for a few seconds just smirking at each other, until Laura again picked up the card. “What do you value most in a friendship? And I’m going to need a real answer here Carm”.

“Loyalty, honesty, respect. Friendships should be seen as a family that we choose so as a family, they should support you, respect you and they should stand by you when life gets hard…”

“Yeah… I agree…”

“You can’t just agree with me cupcake I want to hear your answer”, it was Carmilla’s turn to mess with Laura.  

“Fine… I don’t like when people hover, when they are constantly in a state of emergency and treat me like a child. My friends and I, we are equals, they should not walk around me like I would break. I hate that.”

“If it’s any consolation, I think you can conquer the world Laura, if you really wanted to”, surprised by her own sudden confession Carmilla quickly reached for the next question. “What is your most treasured memory?”

“It’s kind of a bitter-sweet memory to be honest, but it has a special place in my heart. I was standing at the front doors with my dad, saying goodbye, picking my last bag and dropping it into a car, and as we hugged and I started walking away from him I realized that nothing will ever be the same, that my life is changing every literal step that I take, it was overwhelming but beautiful”, Laura smiled as she remembered, “how about you? What’s your most treasured memory?”

“I was in a library we had at home, looking through books, hundreds and hundreds of books. There was a golden print on one black book that looked very old, so I pulled it out and started reading. It was the biggest book I have ever seen. And I read it, and read it for days, when I finished, I realized that philosophy was something that could save me. Pull me out of the restrictions, out of that created an image of being a perfect daughter. That’s the day I fell in love with reading about what ifs and when, where and whys.”

Laura was smitten, carefully watching as Carmilla talked about books and philosophy with a childlike smile on her face, so peaceful, happy. “What is your most terrible memory? Hmmm, these are just going happy-sad I see”, blonde joked, leaving the card next to those already answered.

Carmilla brood over this question longer that she would like to admit, “I have this image in my head that won’t leave me alone, I don’t know if it’s the most terrible memory but it invokes the most terrible feelings in me. It was a summer day, a couple of days after my mom died and I was in a car waiting for some social worker that was chatting outside to take me somewhere. I remember that I was shaking, like I was cold even though it was a hot July day. I didn’t know I was leaving my home for good, I was not aware of that, not entirely, at least, but I knew my life was going to change so much. Sometimes I dream of it, and when I do, I usually try to stay inside for a day just so I could be with myself”. She slumped her shoulders, not looking at Laura’s eyes, eyes that were starting to get teary. She squeezed Carmilla’s hand and slowly spoke.

“Mine was learning about my dad’s accident. I was home doing some homework when a phone rang and a lady from a hospital told me that my dad was in a car accident. I don’t remember how I got to the hospital or how much time did I spent in a waiting room, all I remember is ringing in my ears and the constant inability to take a breath”, the blonde’s steady voice was cut short when the other girl hugged her tightly. They stayed like that for a while, and when Carmilla was completely sure that the girl she was still hugging was okay she asked the next question.     

“If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?”

“I guess I would spend more time with people I care about, I would tell them I love them more, everything else is just the way it suppose to be”, Laura smiled softly.

“I agree with you cupcake on this one”.

“What does friendship mean to you?” Laura asked the next one.

“Didn’t we already have that one?”, brunette pointed out. “I don’t have a lot of friends, as I told you, but those that are my friends are my family. I care for them, so friendship for me is being a part of somebody’s family as they are part of yours.”

“Nicely put Carm”, blonde now pulled out of Carmilla’s arms and squeezed her hand, “friends are my family too, they are people that love me for me and they don’t have a secret agenda.” 

“What roles do love and affection play in your life?”, blonde read the question.

“Well, as you may have guessed cupcake I’m not big on love and affection”, Laura interrupted Carmilla.

“Oh shush! I bet you are a big softie underneath all that broodiness”, and she gave the brunette a big, bright smile.

“Yeah, you got me there Lauronica Mars”,  Carmilla mocked her, “so as I was saying, it was never a big part of my life, sometimes, when I meet somebody that could be good for me, in a form of a friend, let’s be clear about that, I get cold, uninterested. I think I’m not made to be a warm and loving person, that’s just not me”, she shrugged when she answered.

“Who knows, maybe you haven’t found the right person to be warm and loving with”, Laura added with a smile. “Well, I think love is a thing that we all should experience, some of us get that big once in a lifetime kind of love and some of us get those short but memorable loves, it’s all good as long as we love. And affection, well, I like a good hug as any other girl, but I’m a cuddler”, she pointed out seriously, making Carmilla chuckle. 

Carmilla took the next one and read it out loud, “Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items. Cutie are you ready for some charming compliments?”, she asked with a flirty voice.  

“ Do your best grumpy pants…”

“Your enthusiasm is endearing”, she spoke softly,”Your passion for ordinary things is fascinating. That bunched up little _face you make when you_ _'_ re _angry_ is hilarious, buttercup”, Carmilla winked at Laura, making the other girl roll her eyes. “Your beauty is captivating. And your dedication to work is admirable”, she stopped, looking Laura straight in the eyes, making the other girl blush slightly. “Did I leave Laura Hollis speechless?”, she mocked.

Laura scoffed, “You are smooth-talker. And yes, that’s a compliment. You are unbelievably smart, like pass our age, born in another century, lived a hundred lives smart. You are sexy”, Laura hoped that if she dropped that one in the middle of her answer that it will pass unnoticed. “Your dedication to your friends and family is admirable, even though you say you don’t do affection, it’s clear that you care a lot for those people. You are so strong”, she smiled weakly, and hoping that Carmilla was pleased with her answer.

“So you think I’m sexy?”, the brunette asked with a smirk on her face.

“Of course that you would fixate on that”, Laura stated.

Carmilla just kept on smirking reaching for the next question, “How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?”

“I don’t know how other kids lived Carm, this is a hard question”, blonde whined. “I guess I liked my childhood, it had its ups and downs but I turned alright. And my family is really close and warm. They all get together for a family lunch once a week and when I go home they all get so invested in my life it gets kind of weird. But good, it feels like a family, like home”, Laura explained.

“That’s nice cupcake, it seems like they make you happy.”

“They do, but they make me crazy other times”, Laura admitted.

“Well, that’s family”, they both chuckled, “my childhood was normal, happy I guess, I had a lot of chores to do, a lot of classes to attend from a very young age. And my family well if I count LaF in that family, and I do, my family is loud and annoying. But they are supportive and caring so I keep them around”, Carmilla sounded careless.  

“How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?”, Laura reads the next one.

“Did some shrink think of the questions? I mean C’mon…” Carmilla huffed, “but seriously, I don’t think I talked about my mother this much in my entire adult life. Our relationship now is nonexistent and I like it that way.”

“Yeah questions are made to annoy you Carm”, Laura joked, “well my mom and I had a normal mother – daughter relationship I guess. She was loving and caring and happy.”

They both were silent for some time, thinking about the people they lost, about life that was lost with them. They thought about the other person sitting in the room. A person that could understand the feelings of lost and sorrow perfectly.   


	4. Set III

“I figured how this works”, Carmilla stated kind of proudly.

“How this works?”

“Yes cutie. This experiment”, she actually used air quotes, “it makes you go through a roller coaster of emotions with a stranger. It makes you connect faster and stronger”, the brunette explained.

“Well, yeah Carm, that’s the point isn’t it?”

“The thing that worries me is the expiration date”, Carmilla added, making Laura raise her eyebrow questionably. “Hear me out… bonds are formed based on shared good or bad experiences, and that affection we feel for another person is a product of a current high we are feelings, we feel like we are not alone, like we are not only ones with good or bad days, memories. But what happens when reality comes knocking on our doors? When we get to know those people without questions to guide us. Shall we feel the same? Shall we feel deep, undeniable attachment to them?  That’s what I want to know.”

“I guess everything that comes after depends on people, how they choose to behave, are they open to try dating, talking, being friends. They should see where that current affection leads them”, the blonde replied, making Carmilla hum in response reaching for the card.

“It’s a last set cupcake, ready?”, she said looking at Laura and waiting for the reaction, blonde just nodded,  “Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ... “

Laura stared at Carmilla while thinking of her answer, noticing things like black nail polish the other girl had or a silver thumb ring on her left hand, “well, WE are both feeling chatty, we are both feeling like sharing personal things, and we are both feeling slightly philosophical”, happy with her answer journalist beamed.

“I didn’t know I could feel so many different things at the same time cutie”, the brunette teased. “Hmmm, we are both feeling pleased with our answers so far, we are both feeling happy because we got to spend some time with the other person”, Carmilla stopped for a moment, giving Laura a moment to deny the statement, but the blonde just nodded, with a huge grin on her face, “and we are both feeling kind of relieved that this went well”, she stopped again, and a smile appeared on her face, “wow cutie looks like I can feel a lot of things”, she joked, making Laura chuckle.   

“Okay, next one”, Laura read it out loud, “Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share ... “

“My thoughts I guess, things I read bout, things I love… the usual”, the brunette shrugged, reaching for a cookie.  

“I wish I had someone with whom I could share Sundays with”, Laura softly admitted.

“Sundays?”, Carmilla mumbled with a cookie in her mouth.  

“Yeah, like chill day, my free time, and my life outside of work. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with things that I write about, with things I read about, all the bad in the world. Most of the time I can’t leave those things at work, they follow me home. So when the Sunday comes I don’t read the news, I enjoy one day of the week that makes me feel peaceful. And I would love to have somebody to share it with me. That carefree version of Laura Hollis”. She didn’t wait for Carmilla’s reaction, since the other girl was just intensely staring at her, not moving, like she is trying to establish if Laura is real or not.  “So Carm if you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know.”

That pulled Carmilla out of her thoughts, “look cupcake what you need to know is that I’m not a person before my morning coffee, I don’t easily make friends, and I’m very possessive about my books”, she said without hesitation.

“I could work with that”, the blonde offered a smile, “You need to know that a good cookie could make my day, I talk about my work a lot, and when I’m near the deadline I’m not a person I’m a monster.”

“And I could work with that”, they both chuckled. “Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met”, Carmilla read the question out loud.

“The thing I would never say to a person I just met… hmmm”, she looked Carmilla right in the eyes, “you are exceptionally beautiful Carmilla”, feeling her face burn she kept on talking, “I would never say that to a person I just met, I’m never that forthcoming”.

Carmilla didn’t tease her this time, “I would like to get to know you better Laura, because I like talking to you. I would never say that to a person I just met, I’m never that friendly”, she admitted softly.  

Laura already grabbed the next question, playing nervously with a card in her hands, still a little bit flustered with a last subject, “Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life”.

“I want to hear your story cutie”, Carmilla beamed.  

“I fell on my ass after my first kiss”, the blonde admitted honestly, making Carmilla laugh so hard she could almost hear her snort. “Stop laughing!”

“I’m not laughing”, the brunette said still trying to catch her breath.

“I see you, you know”, that made Carmilla laugh even harder, she stretched out on the floor trying to take a breath.  

“Do tell, I promise I’ll try my best not to laugh”, after a while the brunette said.

“Jerk”, Laura smacked her hand playfully, “well, we were standing in front of the cinema and she just leaned in and kissed me, I wanted to, I don’t know what I wanted but I tripped over my own feet and I fell on my ass”.  

Carmilla couldn’t keep the amusement in so she laughed hysterically, “I can already see it, young, innocent Laura”, she laughed, “on her ass”.  

“You really are a jerk”, the blonde pouted.  

“Sorry, sorry”, Carmilla said when she finally stopped laughing and rolling around the carpet, “but mine is worse you’ll see”.  

“How so? Did you fall face first?”

“No, no, not that kind of falling… but I fell asleep during sex.”

“You what? How does somebody fall asleep during sex lady-killer?” Laura tilted her head and waited for the response.  

“I was working a night shift and I was finishing my exams it was a very stressful and exhausting time for me, so when my back hit the bed I just dozed off”.

“Was she mad?”

“You bet”, the brunette said.  

“God Carm, you are the worst”.

“I know cutie, I know”, she just shrugged and they both smiled at each other.

“When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?”, Laura asked.

“I don’t remember when was the last time I cried in front of anyone… by myself, hmmm, I read a book that got to me, a few weeks ago, cried like a baby, and I was upset for a week or so”, Carmilla said, patting a space on the floor for Laura to lie down next to her, blonde abide. 

“Softie, you are just a big softie that wears leather and a lot of heavy makeup. I watched Harry Potter and cried few days ago, and my friend saw me cry when I hit a dead end in a story I was writing, last Wednesday. I was so frustrated and I just snapped and cried” the blonde said from her new point of view. 

Carmilla pulled the stack of questions between them and read the next one, “Tell your partner something that you like about them already. Geez cupcake this set seems to think you need a lot of compliments”.

“Me? How about you? I answer those questions as well if you hadn’t noticed”, Laura pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever creampuff… I like that somehow it doesn’t feel like a struggle talking to you, it’s easy, simple, like we did it every day, I like that I can tell you things that I don’t usually talk about”, Carmilla simply stated.

“I like that as well Carm, well that and your snarky comments entertain me”, the blonde teased. “Next one, what, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?”

“Everything can be a joke cupcake”.

“Even you?”, Laura asked curiously.

“Even me”, Carmilla offered a small smile at this.  

“Good to know, I’ll have to make some jokes about you grumpy”.

“Do your worst Laura Hollis”, the brunette challenged with a smirk making the other girl scoff overdramatically.   

“If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?”, read Laura, turning her body to the side, so she could be parallel with the brunette.

“I would tell mother that I never hated her. And why haven’t I told her that, well, I don’t think it would make a difference for her.”

“They why would you regret not telling her?” Laura was curious.

“Cause I owe it to myself to admit that after everything she has done she is still somebody who raised me and I’m a noble enough person to not hate her for the awful things she did”, the words flow easily of Carmilla’s mouth like she has already thought about them.  

“You are a good person Carmilla”, Laura pointed out, reaching with a hand to squeeze the other girl’s shoulder.  

“No, I’m not cutie, but I’m trying my best”.

The blonde nodded, “I would tell my dad that I love him, and why I didn’t tell him that, well, I did, I do all the time, I just would want to do it one more time before I die”.

“That’s sweet”, the brunette said and took Laura’s hand that was still on her shoulder, leaving a gentle kiss on her palm. Neither of them paid attention to the sudden gesture.

“Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?”, Laura was again the one reading the question.

“Easily my telescope”.  

“You have a telescope”, the blonde was surprised.

“Yes cutie I have an Orion SkyQuest XT8i IntelliScope, although now when I think about it, I don’t know how would I manage to get it out of my house in such a short time”, Carmilla explained, looking at Laura who had her mouth open and a puzzled look on her face. “You okay there?”, philosophy professor asked.

“Yes!”, Laura said it a bit louder, “I’m fine… you just surprise me again and again… I would probably save my yellow pillow, because I can’t sleep without it”.

“That’s cute cupcake”.

“Oh, shut up”, Laura rolled her eyes.  

Carmilla snatched next question and seeing what it said, she slowly sat up, looking seriously at it, “of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?”

“That’s an awful question Carm”, Laura sat up as well.

“It’s not mine cutie, I don’t ask this one until 3rd date”, the brunette smiled trying to lighten up the mood.

Laura was quiet for a while, she picked her nails and played with her fingers. “I would find my dad’s death most disturbing”, her eyes were getting watery, “you see I can’t even think about it without tears”, she sniffed trying to contain her emotions.

Carmilla clumsily sat by her side and hugged her tightly, “shhh hey, hey Laura, hey look at me”, she gently touched the blonde’s cheek, “that won’t happen anytime soon”.  

Laura hugged her back and leaned her head on Carmilla’s shoulder, “thanks Carm, I’m sorry”.

“Don’t worry about it cutie”. They sat like that for a while, Laura clutching on Carmilla’s waist while the brunette played with long blonde hair.

“So you didn’t answer”, Laura finally said.

“Mattie, my person would be my sister”, Carmilla didn’t let her emotions get the best of her.

When Laura finally calmed herself down completely she noticed that there was only one card left. “I think we are at the end of this rocky road grumpy”.

“I see cupcake, we survived. Shall we see what the last question holds?” Carmilla reached, taking the card and reading it out loud, “Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.”

Since they were still kind of hugging Laura had to untangle her hands from Carmilla’s body and look at her while answering this one. “Sometimes I feel like my dad was right, like the world is big, bad and evil, there are people that one to take advantage of you, want to use you, hurt you. Sometimes I wonder if I’m up to challenge, sometimes I think that I might need somebody, to be there for me, to protect me, and that makes me wonder if I’m weak. I don’t know how to get away from that feeling”.

“Cupcake needing people doesn’t make you weak. And yeah the world is big, bad, almost evil sometimes, but you made it, you are doing it every day. You are writing, creating, changing lives of others with the things you do. Needing somebody doesn’t make you weak, it makes you human. I bet that your dad is so proud of you, that he loves the fact that you can take care of yourself, but cutie, there’s nothing wrong with letting somebody else take charge for a while”, Carmilla spoke slowly, trying to make Laura believe her words. Laura nodded, a smile showing on her face. “My current problem is, well, it’s kind of a tricky problem, and I bet my life that you can give me the best advice about it. So there’s this cute little journalist that caught my eye”, Carmilla smirked, pointedly looking at the blonde, “And I was wondering should I ask her out, would she find that too direct or would she be okay with it. And since you are giving me advice where should I take her on our first date if she says yes?”

Laura cleared her throat for some reason before speaking “If I know this girl, and I think I do, she would be really happy with your question. So I say go for it. As for the activities on your date, well you should take her someplace casual, where they serve cookies or cupcakes, the place where she can ogle you”, the blonde finished with a wink.

 Carmilla smiled and suddenly stood up, reaching for her jacket, when she found her phone, she turned around and faced, still sitting Laura, “cupcake, would you like to go on a date with me?”

Laura just nodded, trying to contain a blush on her cheeks.

“Since you picked a perfect time to stop talking I’m going to assume that was a yes, here you can type your number and I’ll text you with details”, the brunette said as she handed her the phone.

“I’m looking forward to our date Carm, and I hope you won’t take my advice for granted”, Laura joked.

“Don’t worry cutie, I remembered everything you said…”, they were now both standing, looking at each other. “We should call LaF and tell them we are done”.

Before Carmilla could put her jacket on Laura surprised her with a hug, “I had a great time today Carm, thanks”, she put a soft kiss on Carmilla’s cheek and bounced through the door.


	5. Date

Carmilla used Laura’s advice about date’s location, she picked a small, bright coffee shop with an ice cream parlor in a walking distance. She figured if Laura likes cookies she will like ice cream as well.   

For the first time in her life Carmilla felt nervous about the date, “ _what if Laura and I have nothing to talk about; what if she dislikes things that I like; God!”_ , the brunette groaned, frustrated with her inner monolog.

She arrived at the coffee place 10 minutes earlier, so she ordered coffee and took a seat at the far away corner of the shop.

Laura arrived on time, bouncing around, smiling, she hugged Carmilla and gave her a kiss on a cheek, making the other girl smile.   

“Hey you”, Laura beamed.

“Hey cupcake.”

“I like the place, did you have help planning a date?” the journalist asked in a very flirty tone.

“I might have had help, but just a little one”, Carmilla responded with a grin.

All Carmilla’s worries about not having a lot of things to talk about with Laura flew out of the window. They talked about the most random things, for a really long time.

“There’s no way that you don’t have a piece of clothing in bright colors!”, Laura huffed, “like non? Not even an ugly Christmas sweater?”

“What can I say cutie, I dress in elegant, dark colors that suit me”, the brunette was being smug making the other girl roll her eyes.

After a while they got some ice cream and walked around the city streets when Laura stopped suddenly, “and this is where I work”, she said pointing at the tall glass building in front of them.

“So now I know where you work, I should use that information wisely”, the brunette stated.

“You should. Like for good things, like bringing me food and drinks”, Laura joked.

“I see how it is, you are going to date me because I can be your delivery girl”, Carmilla teased.

 “A beautiful delivery girl”, the honey blonde surprised with her own response, blushed furiously.

Carmilla winked at her saying, “well, you got that one right”.

They finished their walk in front of Laura’s apartment building.

“So this is me”, she pointed out on a red brick building behind her, “I had a great time Carmilla”.

“Me too cupcake”, the brunette smiled, leaning slowly and giving Laura gentle peck on the lips, “I hope we could do this again sometimes”.

The honey blonde just hummed and closed the distance between them again, this time with a less innocent kiss.

“LaF is going to be so smug that they were right about that stupid experiment”, Carmilla groaned, making Laura chuckle.


End file.
